More than half of people with deposit accounts are dissatisfied with the returns on their savings, according to a new survey.

The poll by Irish Life found that almost half of Irish adults have a deposit account, with an average amount of €32,000 saved. The research also revealed that a quarter of Irish adults have a nest-egg of savings for themselves that no one else knows about.

Half of deposit account holders have kept a lump sum with their bank for five years or longer, with a fifth claiming to have over €50,000 in their deposit account, and another 13 per cent have over €75,000 saved.

However, there is a general sense of discontent among deposit account holders, as the survey showed that 56 per cent of savers are not happy with the returns on their savings.

Some 46 per cent (up 5 per cent from 2015) have experience of investing some of their money. Of those, two in three said their previous investment has risen in value.

Four in ten people said they are cautious when it comes to investing. Another one in six (16 per cent) said they are “confident or very experienced” investors.

There has also been a 5 per cent fall (to 21 per cent) in the numbers who say they are “risk averse” and would never be comfortable investing any money.

A lack of knowledge was highlighted as one of the main barriers to people investing.

A third of people said they wouldn’t know what type of investment would suit their needs and 27 per cent wanted to know more about what type of return they could expect.

A quarter of people said they wouldn’t know who to ask for advice to consider their options for investing money.